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Monkey Town: The History of Heywood

Heywood Schooldays

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The pages linked below tell the stories of some of the ever-changing schools and the gradual growth of education in Heywood:

Link to a timeline of schools in Heywood, Lancashire.

A timeline of the opening and closing of Heywood schools over the years.

Link to the history of the Free School in Heywood, Lancashire

The story of one of Heywood's first schools.

Link to the story of the Hatter's School in Heywood, Lancashire

The history of a little-known school near Hopwood that opened in 1754 and is still standing today.

Link to a website about Heywood Grammar School

A website all about the history of one of Heywood's premier schools.

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© and website design: Christopher Dawson MPHA (Qld)

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Ashworth
Ashworth Valley
Bamford
Birtle
Cemeteries
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factory conditions
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'The Old Mills of Heywood' Project

Explore the history of Heywood's old workplaces.

Popular Pages

Bronze Age Heywood: Beaker th' Moss?

People of the Bell-Beaker culture. How long have people lived around this place we now k now as Heywood? Although humans are known to have moved around the wider area during the Stone Age, archaeological evidence of their activities is thin on the ground. There is, however, stronger proof of Bronze Age human activity to the north of Heywood, around Ashworth Moor and Knowl Hi ll, dating to at least 4,000 years ago. The moorland landscape looked very different back then. An analysis of the peat on Ashworth Moor by Rochdale geologist Walter Baldwin in 1902 - just prior to the construction of the reservoir there - found traces of ancient trees, predominantly Scotch fir and oak, along with birch, hazel, ash willow and Scotch elm, and also undergrowth plants such as holly, blackberry bush, and sloe. Baldwin noted that the site chosen for the reservoir had once been an ancient lake that had become choked with vegetation over time, and the waters would once have attracted much wil...

The Fall of the Weavers

‘Fifty years ago there lived in this district a goodly number of handloom weavers; a class of men to which Lancashire is indebted for much of its subsequent commercial prosperity. Some of these men had a narrow and stern piety, but their thoughtfulness, good common sense, and general sterling qualities left their mark upon us.’ ( Heywood Advertiser , 1908) ‘The handloom weavers... though they labour 14 hours upwards daily, earn only from five to seven shillings a week. They... are affected by all the causes of moral and physical depression... ill-fed, ill-clothed, half-sheltered and ignorant - weaving in close, damp cellars or crowded workshops.’ (Dr J.P. Kay, 1832) One of the trades worst affected by the onset of the Industrial Revolution during 1760-1840 was handloom weaving, in which cloth was spun and woven inside the home. When it came to weaving, Heywood was exclusively a cotton village (whereas Middleton had a thriving silk industry). Although the weavers were not a wea...

A List of Heywood Pubs and Beerhouses

Heywood area beerhouse keepers listed the 'Heap’s Bury Directory' for 1850: John Ashton, 78 Bury Street Ralph Ashton, Church Street Robert Brearley, Bury Street John Butterworth, Ashton’s buildings Thomas Chadwick, Heady Hill Robert Clifton, Miller Street Thomas Clegg, Peel Street John Bradshaw, Brunswick Street Benjamin Dearden, Heady Hill Ann Fitton, 7 Ashton Street Jacob Fitton, 60 Manchester Street William Fitton, Wilton Street James Fletcher, 23 Mount Street Samuel Frankland, Bury Street Alice Gee, 23 York Street Jacob Gee, New field John Glover, Church Street James Grindrod, 77 Bridge Street Robert Hamilton, 49 York Street Luke Helliwell, Church Street James Hilton, Manchester Street Alice Holt, Higher Lomax Hannah Horrox, Charlestown Jane Hutchinson, 44 Bury Street Job Leach, 59 Manchester Street Edmund Lee, 78 Manchester Street Henry McCraith, 64 Bridge Street John Mills, Aspinall Street John Mill, Mount Pleasant Robert Mills, Prettywoo...

The Lost World of Green Booth

(Greenbooth is in Rochdale but is covered here because reservoir was built by the Heywood and Middleton Water Board.) The old village of Green Booth now lies deep beneath the waters of the Greenbooth reservoir to the north of Heywood. For younger Heywoodites this conjures images of a Biblical inundation, leaving an underwater village unwillingly trapped in time. In reality, the village of Greenbooth was already dead when the Heywood and Middleton Water Board built the reservoir and submerged it in the 1960s. Green Booth village (Greenbooth Memories). Although the place now has the one-word name 'Greenbooth', it was originally called Green Booth, with Green Booth Woods being on the slopes. The area has some significant history, as it was visited quite often in the 1750s by John Wesley , the famous founder of the Methodist Church. He stayed just up the hill at Blomleys, where he established a small Methodist chapel. A weaving mill was built at Green Booth during the ...

General Timeline of Heywood History

This timeline of the history of Heywood is a work in progress. It is intended to be as accurate as possible, and suggested corrections or additions are welcome. Pre - A.D. 1270 7th century: Middleton is thought to have been settled by this time. 1086: Rochdale recorded in the Domesday Book as Recedham. 1164: Heywood family recorded in local area. 1183: Records for Ashworth start around this time. 1197: Reference to Birtle in records. 12th century: Hopwood family recorded at site of current Hopwood Hall. 1210: Reference to hamlets of Lumhalghs (Lomax) and Hep (Heap) in records. 1260: Land at Pilsworth granted to William de Radcliffe. 1270-1600 1260s-70s: Adam de Bury grants land to Peter de Heywood during this time. 1278: William del Bridge granted land near Bury. 1292: Reference to Hoppewode in records 13th century: Bamford family living in Bamford area. 13th century: Peter de Heywood builds Heywood Hall. 1...

Darnhill: A Little Corner of Manchester in Heywood

For centuries, Darn Hill was a rural farming area in the township of Heap. That changed dramatically in the 1960s, in the lingering aftermath of World War II. Manchester had suffered heavy bombing during that war, leaving it with a housing crisis. Manchester City Council’s solution was to buy land from neighbouring boroughs for the construction of new municipal housing outside the city boundaries, although the residents of these new estates would still pay rent and rates to MCC. By 1955 at least 68,000 houses in Manchester were unfit for human habitation, 600 were falling down per year, and there was a pressing need for 81,000 new houses. 171 acres of land in the west of Heywood, mainly home to fields and some farm buildings, had been identified in 1952 as a potential site for what was termed an ‘overspill development’. A request from Manchester Town Hall was made to Heywood councillors to allow them to use the land for construction. A subsequent public inquiry revealed many local ...

Submit a Story

If you have researched any aspect of Heywood history and would like to submit an article to Monkey Town, please contact me.

Thanks to the following people for their contributions:

Michael Baron:

'The Age of the Electric Tram in Heywood'

Neil J Richardson:

'The Story of Michael Rukin and Charles Martin Newhouse'

Alan McCarthy:

'Heywood Spitfires'

This website created by Christopher Dawson.
Member of the Professional Historians Association (Qld).
BA Anthropology (University of Queensland); Grad. Dip. Applied and Local History (University of Queensland).
Back o'th' Moss/Mossfield Primary/Siddal Moor
All original material © C Dawson
dawsonchris@outlook.com

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